LXIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
THE SOUTH-SEA ISLANDERS. 
Crrram THomas Mansy, who has been a voyage round the 
world, states, that he is enabled to prove that all the islands in 
the South Seas are peopled from the same stock; the language 
much resembles, and the same hieroglyphical characters are un- 
derstood from one extreme of the Pacific Ocean to the other. 
As a proof of it, Capt. Manby submitted to be tatooed at Ota- 
hieta, and received from the king and queen the investiture of 
the highest honours they could bestow; which is, a circle or 
garter below the knee of the left leg, and a star nearly resem- 
bling a Maltese cross, beautifully executed on the skin, with 
other devices, which hieroglyphically related a curious adventure 
never to be effaced or forgotten. On leaving Otahieta, Captain 
Manby proceeded toOwhyhee, the largest of the Sandwich Islands, 
a distance of near three thousand miles, where every hierogly- 
phical character, tatooed on him, was deciphered most accurately 
by an old priest belonging to the Morai of King Tomahamaha, 
who related every circumstance with wonderful exactness, which 
greatly amused the king and all his queens, who made the Cap- 
tain many valuable presents, and all showed him the most marked 
attention during the time he remained at the island. 
At all the other islands, the same true and exact translation 
was always given, and created the greatest mirth wherever the 
characters were read; and such was the amusement it afforded, 
that the islanders would often watch for the Captain bathing to 
read an adventure which afforded many good-humoured jokes. 
Captain Manby having obtained the interpretation of several 
hundred characters of an hieroglyphical nature, he intends 
speedily to publish them, which must prove of the utmost utility 
to future navigators, and throw a new light on the history of the 
innumerable islands that lie scattered over the immense surface 
of the great Pacific Ocean. 
ON RESPIRATION. 
On Tuesday the 16th instant, Dr. Roget gave his eighth lec- . 
ture on Comparative Physiology, at the Royal Institution. In 
this lecture he took a comprehensive view of the subject of Re- 
spiration. The necessity of this function, he remarked, would 
scarcely have been anticipated, from our previous notions of the 
wants of an animal, founded on the known properties of or- 
ganized matter; and yet observation shows, that the continuance 
of life is more immediately dependent on respiration, than even 
on the circulation itself. Insects, for example, that live without 
Vol. 59. No, 288, April 1822, Q q any 
